Asylum seekers removed to France include potential victims of modern slavery, says report

"Humans For Rights Network (HFRN) interviewed those returned after crossing the Channel in small boats in mid-October while they were staying in their initial accommodation a marquee next to a railway track in Paris. The research was announced after the Guardian revealed that an Iranian asylum seeker, who was sent to France last month, returned to the UK just 29 days later and is being held in an immigration detention centre."

"The prime minister said on Thursday that the government was planning to expedite the man's return to France. A charity that has maintained contact with some of those returned to France has said that more of them may attempt to return to the UK due to the reception conditions in France. The UK-France one in, one out treaty, which came into force on 6 August, allows the UK to detain and rapidly remove people who enter via small boats."

"At the time of HFRN's research, 24 people had been returned to France and they interviewed 12 of them. At least three of them had relatives in the UK, including two people with sisters and one with an aunt. One man told the Guardian that he reunited with his sister in the UK for the first time in more than a decade when she visited him in a detention centre. But the contact was brief after he was removed to France shortly afterwards."

Humans For Rights Network interviewed people returned after crossing the Channel in small boats in mid-October while they stayed in initial accommodation in Paris. At that time 24 people had been returned to France and 12 were interviewed. At least three had relatives in the UK. Four men said they were victims of modern slavery, citing Libya, Ethiopia and Yemen. Several returnees had serious health issues including blindness in one eye and severe depression. An Iranian asylum seeker returned to the UK after 29 days, is in immigration detention and has been referred to the national referral mechanism. The UK-France one-in, one-out treaty allows rapid removal of small-boat arrivals while the UK accepts an equal number through a new safe legal route; a charity warned that reception conditions in France may prompt further returns to the UK.

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